Are all future macs dropping Bootcamp support for Windows XP?

[doctordrumdude]

How are you fellow MacRumor members!

I just bought the new macbook air.
I was about to install my Windows XP on bootcamp
(just to play some games that only exist on Windows).... only to find out that
apple has dropped driver support for Windows XP on bootcamp.
It says bootcamp only supports Windows 7.

I know there are ways around this, but i would lose brightness control etc.
which would be very inconvenient.

Would you guys guess that Apple is going to do this for ALL future macbook/macbook pro models coming in 2011 as well? I would be quite disappointed to see my genuine Windows XP CD turning useless on bootcamp.

Thank you in advance everyone-

 

[sjinsjca]

I can't comment on Apple's Boot Camp support of XP, but running Windows in a virtual machine is generally a much better way to go anyway, at least for non-gaming applications. Depending on the CPU-intensiveness of your games, it might be acceptable for them, too.

You can hot-key between Mac and Windows environments, and Time Machine will be backing up your Windows instance (it does not touch a Boot Camp partition).

I use and recommend VMWare Fusion. You'll want as much RAM as you can get, but my first 2006-era MacBook Pro had 2GB RAM and I was able to use VMs with that machine without trouble.

 

[snorkelman]

I've got XP on with brightness control etc now working. Last post I made in previous thread covered the drivers required and install procedure/order of installation though I've not had time as yet to tidy it up a bit.

Only real issue left is the trackpad is a bit over sensitive (seems common even on machines where Apple does support XP)

wether dropping XP support is air specific or start of a trend remains to be seen, but if they're willing to drop it on the air which would benefit from it the most then no real reason I can see for them to want to continue with it on other models.

re using it in a VM its not only games where that can turn into a real pain in the butt. Apps with dongles, USB to serial converters etc are all easier to deal with via bootcamping into XP as an exclusive rather than via a VM

 

[FourCandles]

...
wether dropping XP support is air specific or start of a trend remains to be seen, but if they're willing to drop it on the air which would benefit from it the most then no real reason I can see for them to want to continue with it on other models.
...

Just curious, why do you say that the MBA would benefit most from continuing XP support (if that's what you are saying)?


Thanks.

 

[alust2013]

Just curious, why do you say that the MBA would benefit most from continuing XP support (if that's what you are saying)?


Thanks.

It is the least powerful of the Mac lineup, and XP is the least resource intensive of the windows line.

Regarding dropping support of XP, it kind of makes sense, as MS doesn't really support it anymore either. But why they would take the drivers away for XP doesn't make sense to me, as it takes no effort to leave them there.

 

[FourCandles]

It is the least powerful of the Mac lineup, and XP is the least resource intensive of the windows line.
..

Ah, OK. I understand. thanks.

 

[balamw]

How are you fellow MacRumor members!
Would you guys guess that Apple is going to do this for ALL future macbook/macbook pro models coming in 2011 as well?

Yes. Absolutely.

You honestly can't expect hardware and software manufacturers to keep supporting a 10 year old 32 bit OS that is no longer sold or really supported by MS forever do you?

Your XP is perfectly usable in a VM, which is (IMHO) where it belongs on modern hardware.

B

 

[doctordrumdude]

Thank you for your reply

I just wanted to thank everyone for his/her help-

Thank you!

 

[vistadude]

I think they will stop supporting XP soon, especially to drive up sales to buy a new computer (a mac) to sync with ipods and iphones. However, making a few XP trackpad drivers for their computers should be simple.

Windows 7 is still a bit slower than XP on many apps, especially on notebooks like the Mac Airs, and the install size is inconvenient for SSD's, which are tiny compared to hard disks. Not only that, but people who actually use XP likely do it because their old programs don't run on windows 7, and virtualizing is still way too slow and has annoying graphical glitches. Windows XP mode for Windows 7 works well but is annoyingly slow, even on new laptops.

 

[balamw]

Not only that, but people who actually use XP likely do it because their old programs don't run on windows 7, and virtualizing is still way too slow and has annoying graphical glitches. Windows XP mode for Windows 7 works well but is annoyingly slow, even on new laptops.

XP mode is virtualizing. VMWare even lets you run the XP Mode VM in VMWare Player with better performance than Virtual PC.

Please folks, just let XP die in peace.

B